Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus including multiple chips and a data transfer method.
Description of the Related Art
Increase in performance of central processing units (CPUs) and increase in size of electrical circuits have been advanced in recent years in order to support speeding up and complication of data processing. A method of increasing the number of circuits that are capable of being installed on one chip through high integration achieved by miniaturization of semiconductor processes and a method of dividing a circuit into multiple chips are known as the methods of increasing in size of the electrical circuits.
In order to increase the processing speed by dividing a circuit into multiple chips and performing the processes in parallel, it is necessary to transfer data between the chips at high speed. In order to achieve this, a method of connecting multiple image processing units using a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express interface, which is a high-speed serial interface standard, to realize parallel image processing is proposed (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-323159).
However, since it is necessary to add PCI Express switches in order to connect the multiple image processing units to the PCI Express interface, which offers point-to-point connection, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-323159, there is a problem in that the cost is increased.